BOSTON — Rajon Rondo made a triumphant return to TD Garden, scoring the first 10 points for his new team and leading the Dallas Mavericks to a 119-101 victory over the Boston Celtics on Friday night.
Rondo, traded recently by the Celtics to the Mavs in exchange for three players, two draft picks and a trade exception, hit his first seven shots from the field, four of them 3-pointers, and scored 18 points in the first 13:32 of the game.
The enigmatic point guard went on to finish with a season-high 29 points as the Mavericks (24-10) won their third straight.
Rondo was given a huge ovation in pregame introductions and a video tribute at the end of a 15-point first quarter, responding with a wave to the standing crowd.
Rondo, who hit a career-high five 3-pointers, also had six rebounds and five assists. He was 12 of 19 from the floor, including 5 of 7 from 3-point range.
Before the game, he thanked Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge and managing partner Wyc Grousbeck for sending him to a great place.
“It’s a great situation,” he said after his new team’s shoot-around. “Danny and Wyc could have sent me anywhere. I think it showed the type of class that these guys have to send me to an organization (like Dallas).
“I’ve done a lot for this organization and they didn’t just throw me on the backburner to any team. They put me in a situation where I can still excel and win a championship with this caliber team. I’m grateful for that situation.”
The Mavericks opened a 20-point lead in the first half, but the Celtics (11-19 with five losses in the last six games) cut their deficit to seven with 8:33 left in the third quarter. By the end of the quarter, the Mavericks, courtesy of a closing 13-0 run, had a 28-point lead and the home fans were booing the Celtics for lazy defense on the quarter-ending play.
The Celtics, who rallied from 31 points down to get to within one before losing in Dallas on Nov. 3, rode a hot streak by guard Avery Bradley to cut the lead to 10. But Rondo hit a jumper and made a key pass to keep his old team at arm’s length.
Bradley scored 17 of his 22 points in the fourth quarter, but it wasn’t nearly enough.
Guard Monta Ellis scored 22 points, forward Dirk Nowitzki added 17 points, forward Chandler Parsons had 13 points and seven rebounds and center Tyson Chandler contributed 16 rebounds and eight points.
Forward Jeff Green scored 18 points and center Tyler Zeller had 17 points and 10 rebounds for Boston.
NOTES: G Rajon Rondo, recently traded from Boston to Dallas and making his return to TD Garden on Friday, admitted something most people noticed from his stay with the Celtics. “I haven’t played defense in a couple of years,” he said at morning shoot-around. “I’ve been able to hide it a lot with Avery Bradley on the ball. He’s helped me out, the young guy. But here they expect me to play defense. And in the West, if you don’t play defense, you’ll get embarrassed every night at the point guard position.” Celtics coach Brad Stevens said, I don’t have any reaction. I don’t know the context of the discussion.” … The Sporting News reported that the Celtics were “actively seeking” to trade Fs Jeff Green and Brandon Bass and added that newly acquired F Brandan Wright can also be plucked for a draft pick. … The Celtics are at Chicago on Saturday night and the Mavs play in Cleveland on Sunday.
Cavaliers 71, Hornets 87
CHARLOTTE, North Carolina — Forward Kevin Love scored 27 points and the Cleveland Cavaliers snapped a three-game losing streak with their first win since LeBron James was shelved, beating the Charlotte Hornets 91-87 on Friday night.
The Cavs trailed by 11 points in a cold-shooting first half but took the lead midway through the third quarter and went on to lead by as many as 11 in the fourth quarter.
They put the game away on Love’s fallaway 18-footer at the shot-clock buzzer with 23.4 seconds remaining for an 88-83 lead. Guard Kyrie Irving tacked on three free throws in the final 10.8 seconds.
The Cavs were playing their third game without James, who is expected to miss at least two weeks with a lower back strain and left knee injury. The Cavs were also without center Anderson Varejao, who is done for the season with a ruptured Achilles.
The Hornets were short-handed, too. The Hornets were without center Al Jefferson, who will miss a month with a left groin strain, and guard Lance Stephenson, who missed his ninth straight game with a pelvic strain.